59. Delay Fatal

Delay Fatal

LOST IN CAVE.—A man entered a dark, winding cave, carrying with him a lamp, and a ball of twine. That he might find his way out of the cave, in case his light went out, he fastened one end of the twine outside, and unwound it as he walked into the cave. In this manner, he had gone a long distance into those dark recesses. At length, he entered a large apartment, and for a moment set down his lamp and ball, to break off a stalactite of peculiar beauty. Suddenly his lamp went out. He immediately endeavored to find his ball; but all his efforts were vain. His lifeless body was found long afterward in the dark cavern.

BURIED IN HER GRAVE.—At West Bend, Wis., a clergyman started for a small country place, a few miles away, for the purpose of conducting the funeral service of a lady who was that day to be interred. On the way, the horse ran away, throwing the preacher from the cutter, and killing him instantly. The funeral was in consequence delayed; and a while after the time when it would, but for the accident, have taken place, the lady rose from the coffin, having been in a trance for two days. The unfortunate minister was buried in the grave which had been made to receive the lady’s supposed dead body.

IF I ONLY HAD.—A man who had charge of a swing-bridge opened it just to oblige a friend, who said there was plenty of time for his boat to go through before the train of cars came along. But a moment after the express came thundering on, and dashed into the dark waters below. The bridge-keeper, whose neglect had caused the disaster, lost his reason, and his life since has been spent in a madhouse. The first and only words he uttered when the train leaped into the open chasm were, “If I only had;” and he has gone on constantly repeating the vain regret. Ah! that will be the cry of the lost in another world,—”If I only had.” THE FOOL.—There was a nobleman who kept a fool or clown, to whom he one day gave a staff, with a charge to keep it till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than himself. Not many years after, the nobleman fell sick, even unto death. The fool came to see him. His sick lord said to him, “I must shortly leave you.” “And whither art thou going?” said the fool. “Into another world,” replied his lordship. “And when will you come again?—within a month?” “No.” “Within a year?” “No.” “When, then?” “Never.” “Never!” said the fool. “And what provision hast thou made for thy entertainment there, whither thou goest?” “None at all.” “Here, take my staff; for, with all my folly, I am not guilty of any such folly as this.”

NEGLECT SUFFICIENT.—Neglect is enough to ruin a man. One who is in business need not commit forgery or robbery to ruin himself; he has only to neglect his business, and his ruin is certain. A man who is lying on a bed of sickness need not cut his throat to destroy himself; he has only to neglect the means of restoration, and he will be ruined. A man floating in a skiff above Niagara need not move an oar, or make an effort, to destroy himself; he has only to neglect using the oar at the proper time, and he will certainly be carried over the cataract.

LATCH AND ROOF.—It is said that a man threatened to oil a latch every day for forty years. Its squeaking every day appealed to his memory, but he died without doing it. This was much like the man who did not mend his roof in fair weather because then it did not leak.